The Quest
by wibblywobblywesteros
Summary: This is a fantasy story. It will involve, knights, swords, children of the forest, greensight, blood magic, romance, and of course a quest.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: This story takes place after Jaime has returned to King's Landing without a hand. Joffrey is dead. Myrcella is dead. Unlike the TV Show, he knows about Cersei's affairs with Lancel Lannister and the Kettleblacks. He is no longer in love with her (more like in the books when he receives her letter in the Riverlands and burns it) and has begun to realize that she is more interested in power than in him. Cersei's one redeeming quality has been her love for her children. That is no different in this story. Flora may seem like a predictable nicey character at first but she too will have flaws revealed later in the story. This story has gotten a few unhappy reviews for whatever reason. I will say nothing more to defend it. If you don't like my story please just read something else.

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Flora awoke from the dream to a cold breeze blowing through the branches of the tree where she slept. She didn't mind the cold or the darkness of night around her. It was much colder than this at home and darkness was nothing to fear. It was the dream that had her disturbed. Flora had dreamt of this man every night for months, for nearly a year truthfully. The greensight would not let her forget him. By now she knew every detail of his life. She knew of his love for his sister, his protectiveness of his small brother, of the way he only felt whole with a sword. She knew that he was a man of honor in spite of what people believed about him. And she knew what the future held for him. At least some of it anyway.

Flora waited until the sun had fully risen before climbing down from the tree. She smiled when her feet touched the ground. The grass her was greener and taller her than she'd ever seen. Of course that was to be expected. She'd never been South of the Wall before. There was snow on the ground most of the time back home. She lifted the hood on her ragged brown cloak to cover her hair and obscure her face. She liked this place. She liked the people. They didn't like her. It was best to remain unnoticed whenever she could.

Flora took an apple from the cloth sack she carried and began to eat as she walked. She watched for other sources of edible vegetation as she walked. Most days she was able to find enough. If she were lucky, some kind farmer might offer her bread or cheese. If not she wouldn't starve. She had never needed much food to get by. Flora had been traveling for months. Any day now she would reach her destination and the difficult part of the journey would begin. She came over the top of a hill and saw it ahead in the distance, King's Landing City.

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The secluded area on the beach was Jaime's favorite place to practice using a sword with his left hand. It couldn't be seen from the city walls and no one ever visited here. No one ever came there except for that day. As Jaime entered the open area on the beach he saw a hooded female figure. She was short in stature, not as short as Tyrion but still shorter than most women. He couldn't see her face but he could see that she was facing his direction as if she were waiting for him. Her clothes were ragged so if she were someone sent to spy on him it was a poor disguise.

"Ser Jaime Lannister?" She asked as he approached her.

"I am. Who are you?"

"I am Flora. I came here to help you." She said.

"Did you now?" Jaime wanted to laugh. Was this how Baelish was operating his brothels now? Sending out women dressed as beggars. "Well unless you are here to spar with me, I don't think I'll be needing any help."

She lifted her hand and only then did he notice that she was holding a wooden staff. The length of it had been laid out on the ground behind her. "I will spar with you." She said, pulling down the hood of her cloak.

Jaime couldn't help but take a step back. The woman standing before him didn't look quite human. Her hair was braided around the top of her head in a wild and untamed fashion. There were sprigs of green growing out of her head, Not just adorning her red brown hair, but growing as part of it. Her eyes were just a little larger than they should have been as well. He might not have noticed the large blue eyes if they had been they only distinct feature she had. With the hair being as it was he couldn't help but notice.

"What… what are you?" He asked.

"You are educated, I trust you have heard of the Children of the Forest?" She asked.

"The mythical race that helped build the Wall?" He asked with disbelief.

"Do I look like a myth to you?" She said.

"This has to be some trick. How have you attached leaves to your hair like that?"

"It is no trick." Flora said. She reached up and unbound her hair, allowing the locks and the leaves to fall free. "See for yourself." She took a step closer to him and he reached out and tugged at one of the leaves in her hair. It pulled free with a strand of hair still attached.

While he remained gazing at the hair, Flora untied her cloak and tossed it aside on the beach. "Will you spar with me or not Ser?" She asked.

"You want to use a stick against a sword?" He asked her, amused.

"I'm not afraid of your steel." She said raising her staff.

Jaime unsheathed his sword. The staff hit him in the face before he could even react. The small woman, or child of the forest, or whatever she was, was much more swift and strong than he had expected. Jaime felt as if he were fighting a small version of Oberyn Martell. He had never been any good with his left hand. He tried to block her blows but in a short time she knocked the sword out of his hands. Jaime raised his hands in surrender. "You win."

"You need my help." She said firmly.

"Look even if I believe that you are from a mythical race, how is it that you're supposed to help me? I don't care how long I train against you and your staff. I'm always going to be shit with a sword now." Jaime said. "You can't help me."

"You will not always be shit with a sword. I have seen it. I have seen you lay waste to a hundred White Walkers with the sword called Brightroar in your left hand." Flora told him earnestly.

Jaime wanted to laugh but he held back. "Brightroar? The Lannister Valyrian Steel Sword has been lost a long time you know?"

"Not anymore. I know where it is." She said.

"This is insane." Jaime said, moving away from her. He'd just have to practice some other time. He wasn't going to listen to any of this for a moment longer.

"Tonight you will see a cousin that you have not seen for nine years." She called after him. "I have seen it. I will be in the godswood tomorrow when you are ready to speak with me."

Jaime kept walking and did not look back.

Flora waited patiently in the godswood. She knew he was coming even before she heard his footsteps. She hadn't minded waiting, or she wouldn't have if not for the hunger. It was a lot more difficult to find food in a city than it had been in the wild.

"You were right." Jaime said, sitting down at the heart tree a few feet away from where she sat. "I saw a cousin whom I hadn't seen in nine years. He came to the city secretly. How could you have known that he was coming?"

"I have greensight. I see things in my dreams that men do not see. It is because my mother was of the Children of the Forest. My father was of the Free Folk and he raised me. I learned of the greensight later…" Flora said. "You have been in all of my dreams for the better part of a year. I had to come here. I can help you and you can help me."

"How? Now I'm not saying I believe you, but how is it we are supposed to help each other?" He asked.

"You need Brightroar. Valyrian Steel is forged with blood magic, Brightroar with Lannister blood. That sword is meant to be yours. Left hand or right it will not matter. You will be able to fight with it." Flora said. "I can show you where to find it but in exchange you have to help defend the prince that was promised. The White Walkers will lay waste to the world if you do not."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about and I've never believed in blood magic. I just want to know who sent you? Was it Varys or Littlefinger… or maybe even Cersei?" Jaime asked. "What is it you really want?"

Flora sighed. This was going to be a very difficult task. "I want to show you something. Put your hand on the weirwood."

Jaime looked skeptical but he did as she asked. Flora put her own hand on the tree as well. Then she closed her eyes and concentrated hard. She wasn't entirely sure this would work as she had never tried it before. Her mind was filled with images of the future. The dark haired prince was surrounded by White Walkers. The blue eyed Walkers were closing in on all sides. The Prince killed two with his Valyrian blade. They shattered, then three more came and took the place of the dead. Men of the Watch died around him, their ordinary swords doing nothing to stop their enemy, The were reborn as Wights, fighting on the opposite side. All looked to be lost for the Prince until the flaming sword cuts into the horde of Walkers. Jaime is bearing Brightroar and he hacks away the threats to the Prince. The two of them continue to fight until all that is left are the two of them. They stop to breathe, relieved, but in the distance they can see more glowing eyes are coming. Flora pulls her hand away from the tree.

"Seven hells." Jaime gasps. "That was Jon Snow. And those things were White Walkers?"

"Yes, the man you call Jon Snow is the Prince that is Promised. He will deliver us from the White Walkers but even princes can not fight alone." Flora said. "You were once sworn to guard House Targaryen, surely you must want to find Brightroar and fulfill your oaths to House Targaryen?"

Jaime looked confused.

"Jon Snow is your rightful king. He is the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen." Flora explained. She sometimes forgot that not everyone knew the things that she knew. "If ever a king needed guards, he will. Will you do this task or have I travelled all the way from beyond the wall for nothing?"


	2. Chapter 2

Jaime sat there in the godswood not knowing what to say. Clearly Flora was unlike anyone he had ever met. That didn't mean he trusted her or her stories. "How exactly did you travel all the way here from beyond the wall? I'm assuming your people don't ordinarily do that since none of us even knew you existed." he finally said, just wanting to know more before he made a decision.

"I travelled here by walking, the same as anyone else… but I don't really have a people." Flora said sadly.

"There was no one to escort you? You just walked all the way across the kingdom by yourself? How did you make it so far alone?"

"I have been alone for a very long time. It was nothing new. The children of the forest are very few in numbers but they are not supposed to marry the free folk. They want to keep their blood pure. The blood of men dulls their powers. My mother broke the rules and they made her send me away. My father did what he could for me but the free folk were afraid of me, some hated me. As soon as I was old enough, I ran away. It was the only way to keep him safe. He was always trying to defend me, always trying to keep me safe…" She said tears in her eyes. "I couldn't let him get killed trying to protect me… travelling here was no different than how I had been living before. Only it was warmer."

"And it was your dreams that made you come here? Dreams like what you showed me?" he asked, still trying to wrap his head around it all.

"Yes." She whispered, then waited to see what he would decide.

"I'm not deciding anything just yet." He finally said, knowing that was what she was waiting for. "You can come with me and be fed if you like. You must be hungry after such a long journey." Jaime said, getting up.

Flora got up and followed him, putting the hood on her cloak back up as she went.

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After a meal and a bath and a change of clothes into a new green wool dress and new brown cloak, Flora felt less anxious than she had before. Ser Jaime had been careful that none of the maids who tended her actually saw her. They drew a bath while she had been in another room and they left behind clothes and a meal without ever seeing her. She was working on re braiding her hair when Jaime entered the solar.

"How old are you Flora?" Jaime asked as he poured himself some wine.

"I am thirty two namedays." She told him.

"I suppose that's why they call them children of the forest, because they look so young. You look as if you are barely twenty."

Flora said nothing to that. She reached for another apple on the table and began to eat it. The meat that had been brought for her was untouched. "What will you do with me Ser?" She finally dared to ask. He seemed disinclined to listen to her so she had to know. Her visions and dreams had not shown her this part of the journey.

"I'm not going to do anything with you. You are free to leave if you wish." he said.

"And if I don't wish to leave?" her eyes widened with worry.

"I am a knight of the kingsguard. I'm not your guardian. You'll just have to go back to the north I suppose." Jaime said.

"I can't do that." She said, her voice shaken.

"Of course you can. You know how to take care of yourself. You've done it for years. You'll be just fine." He said.

"But Ser, if I leave you won't be able to find Brightroar. You have to help us."

"You might have just sent me a bird with a map to the sword. There was no need for you to come all this way yourself. Not unless there's something you're not telling me." Jaime said. "Tell me what it is you are holding back and I'll let you stay a while longer."

"Everything I told you was true." Flora said sadly.

"Alright then. Tell me where the sword is. If I find it where you say it is then I'll go north and help Jon Snow. If the sword is there, I promise I will help him. And you can go home tomorrow and not have to worry about the future anymore."

Flora looked hesitant. She didn't say a word. She just stared at him with her large blue eyes, worried.

"Out with it." he said firmly.

"Fine, you're right!" She snapped. "It isn't just the prince I am hoping to save. I'm trying to save myself too…" She said sadly.

"See, I knew no one could be that selfless." Jaime grinned.

"Don't talk to me about selfless." She said, her tone tinged with anger. "I ran away from the only family I had and spent fourteen years alone in the hope that I could save him. If anyone knows about selfless.."

"And anyone who knows anything about fathers could tell you that you should have stayed. Your father may be alive but he'll never be happy knowing you are spending your life alone and unprotected." Jaime said.

"I don't need protection. At least I won't until the end." Flora said.

"What end? What is it that you have seen?" Jaime asked. He was getting tired of her evasiveness.

"It is the same dream I've had many times. I am alone somewhere. It is dark. I can hear them coming, the White Walkers. I have a dagger of draggon glass but it is not enough against so many. I can see their glowing eyes in the distance. They are closing in on all sides. A few are getting close, just yards away from where I stand. I throw a ball of light at one of them and it knocks him down but only for a moment and he is up again." Flora said.

"Wait, what do you mean, you throw a ball of light?" Jaime interrupted her to ask.

"Like this." Flora said. She put her hands out in front of her, palms up and Jaime watched in awe as a ball of blue light formed in her opened hands. She lifted the ball and threw it across the room, knocking down a suit of armor that was on display.

Jaime didn't know what to say. He'd never seen anything like it.

"Pure blooded children can kill with those. I am only a halfblood and it takes several blows for me to kill anything but I can kill if I have to." Flora explained.

"So what happens after the White Walker gets up?" Jaime asked.

"He comes at me again along with three more of his kind. I need two hands to form the light that holds them back but I know I can never kill them without the dagger." She said, hands shaking as she told the tale. "I have to decide, will I kill the one that's closest to me with the dagger and risk letting the rest get closer or will I continue to try to hold them all back with the light? In some dreams I use the dagger and kill the Walker. The next Walker reaches me seconds later and spears me through the chest. In other dreams, I hold them back with the light, but their numbers grow and I am more densely surrounded than ever before. The same Walker with spear slips through. He raises his spear to throw at me and to the left I see light. It's a flaming sword. The Walker is distracted by the flames and knock him a step back with another ball of light. It's your flaming sword, Brightroar. I see you kill a dozen Walkers trying to get to me. The one nearest me raises his spear again and throws. It is there that I always wake up from the dream. I don't know when or where this battle takes place or if I will live or die in it, but I know I don't stand a chance if you don't help me."

Jaime stared at Flora for half a minute, confused and concerned. Finally he spoke. "Show me that thing with the light again."

So she did.


	3. Chapter 3

Arya sat sewing in her chambers with Sansa because the rain outside was coming down far too hard for them to even think about sitting in the garden.

"Looks like you're nearly finished." Sansa commented as Arya came to the end of her seam. "What are you making?"

"It just a sleeping gown." Arya said. She knew Sansa wanted to see what she had made but Arya didn't want to show her just yet.

"Interesting choice of colors." Sansa said.

The sleeping gown was of a gray fabric and the thread Arya had chosen was golden yellow.. In effect it meant that all the hems and seams were embellished with yellow. It was not a flattering combination of colors.

"It was all I could do...for Gendry." Arya said. The Baratheon House colors were black and yellow but Gendry had never been legitimized. Even so, his execution had proved his legitimacy. Arya couldn't openly dress her child in Baratheon colors without drawing suspicion but there was enough similarity with Baratheon yellow and Lannister gold that she felt safe enough to add the color to Stark gray.

"Of course." Sansa nodded, understanding. "May I see it?"

Arya reluctantly handed over the garment. Sansa held it up. It really didn't look so bad. The sleeves were both the same length. The stitches were mostly straight along the hem even if a few of the underneath ones weren't so good. Arya was tempted to think that she hadn't done so badly as she'd expected. Still, she waited for Sansa's approval.

"This is the first thing you've made since we were children?" Sansa asked.

Arya nodded, waiting.

"This is well done." Sansa said. "I think maybe it's easier for you to sew when you are doing it for someone you love than when it is simply a chore that has been chosen for you. I always liked sewing, but I think maybe you needed to have a reason to do it. Now you have one."

"Maybe." Arya said, breathing a sigh of relief that Sansa had approved of her sewing. She didn't know why it should matter so much. "How many of these do you think I should make? How much does one baby need?"

"A lot. Babies make such a mess and they grow ever so fast." Sansa said with a smile then her look saddened.

Arya suddenly understood why her sister was sad. "How long have you and Harry been married now?"

"Long enough that there should have been children already." Sansa said sadly.

"I'm sure it's not too late...you're both young and…" Arya began but Sansa was shaking her head.

"I spoke to the Maester. He said there is something wrong with my womb, that it is at the wrong angle and that it may take a long time before I am able to have a child." Sansa explained.

"Then it's not impossible. There's still time." Arya said hopefully.

"I know." Sansa said, wiping away a stray tear. "I just have to be patient."

"Sorry to disturb you m'lady." Genna said from the doorway. "His lordship bid me tell you that his brother has arrived for a visit and will be joining you for dinner in the solar."

Arya was a little surprised by this news. "Thank you Genna." The maidservant left them alone again.

"Oh gods…" Sansa said. "I haven't seen Tyrion since I was married to him."

"I haven't seen him since he was trying to convince our queen not to kill me." Arya said.

"I think he has done a lot of that, a lot of convincing kings and queens to do what is right." Sansa said. "If you don't mind, I think I'll take dinner with Harry. He's not really feeling up to leaving his chambers just yet, and I'm not feeling up to the awkwardness of a Lannister family dinner."

"If only I could find an excuse to escape it too." Arya laughed.

When it came time for dinner, Arya joined the Lannister brothers in the solar.

"You are looking much better than when I last saw you my lady." Tyrion said to her.

Arya wasn't sure what to say to that. She never knew what to say to him. When she had last seen him she had been a wreck. Her husband had just died, she had been injured, and the queen had wanted her executed on the spot. Arya couldn't remember what Tyrion had said to stop the queen. She had been in too much pain both physically and emotionally for much of it to reach her, but she knew that it had been his words that had saved her life.

"I can't say that I remember actually seeing you at all when you last saw me. I was somewhat distracted." Arya said. "Whatever you said to the queen, I thank you for it. I know I would be dead had you not interfered."

"You are most welcome." Tyrion said. "It was the only way I could thank you for saving my life in Essos."

"I haven't heard this story." Jaime said as they all sat down at the table. "It sounds like it might be an interesting tale."

"Well, it happened that I was sent by Dany to the Iron Bank in Braavos to obtain money for her journey west." Tyrion explained. "I'm good at talking. It wasn't hard to convince them that the Targaryen with the dragons was the rightful queen and the most likely monarch to be able to make a return on their investment. The problem being that I had just been loaned a massive sum of money and some of the local people thought this would be a good time to rob me."

"I was in a tavern across the square from the bank when he arrived." Arya said, "I heard some men talking about a dwarf who had gone into the bank. They decided that since he was a small man, he would be easy to rob. They planned to wait for him to come out and take everything then. I followed them out of the tavern and when they attacked him…"

"Have you seen her fight, Jaime?" Tyrion asked, "It was like a dance. I've seen lots of knights fight. I've been in battles. I've never seen anything like the water dance. She took down those two men rather quickly. They ran away screaming. It was really quite hilarious watching them go. More hilarious was the look on her face when she realized who I was. For a moment there, I thought she might use that sword of hers on me. She didn't. She asked me what I was doing there. She asked me if I had any news from Westeros about Sansa. Then I asked her why she had helped me."

"I told him the truth." Arya said. "I told him that I hated it when bigger people hurt smaller people just because they could. I told him it didn't matter who he was, those men from the tavern were the reason the world is such a messed up place and I wasn't going to stand by and do nothing about it."

"I share your sentiments my lady," Tyrion went on. "I hate it when bigger people hurt smaller ones just because they can. I am hoping to prevent that very scenario in the coming months. That's why I am here."

"What exactly does that mean?" Jaime asked.

"It means that if I am suspicious about the timing of Arya's pregnancy, the queen might soon share my suspicions as well." Tyrion said, "We haven't spoken of it at all. I just need to have a story and a plan ready for her when she does eventually bring it up. So tell me Jaime, is the child yours?"


	4. Chapter 4

Jaime took one step towards the door. He was ready to walk out on Cersei. He was ready to follow Flora and make sure she made it safely back to the wild where she could take care of herself.

"Don't go after her Jaime." Cersei pled. "She's dangerous. Please, just let her go."

"She's not dangerous." Jaime argued, realizing Cersei was just jealous that a female of any sort had visited his rooms. That's all this was about. "No more dangerous than any man who carries a sword."

"She threatened me. She said she would do far worse if I try to arrest her." Cersei said. "There was time when you would have stopped anyone who dared to threaten me. Do you care so little for me now?"

"Of course she threatened you. You tried to have her arrested for no reason. She was just frightened." Jaime said.

Believe me, I will have her arrested. Next time I'll be sure have the aid of the city watch to capture her. She won't get far."

Disgusted with her, Jaime moved to leave the room once again. Cersei looked as if she wanted to say something to stop him but she didn't. She let him go. The hallway was empty by the time he went out of the room. There was no telling which way Flora had gone or if she remembered the way out of the castle. Even if she did remember the way out, where would she go? Probably not back to the godswood since the Kingsguard had already seen her there. Perhaps she'd go to the space where they'd met on the beach. Jaime headed in that direction taking care that he was not not followed.

He waited on the beach for a long while. He wasn't entirely sure what he was waiting for. He wasn't ready to leave in search of Brightroar with a stranger just yet. And maybe Cersei had frightened Flora off entirely and she wouldn't come back. Still, his curiosity about her kept him from leaving too quickly. He could wait a few hours at most and then he had duties to attend to.

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Flora had to bite back her terror at being lost inside the stone box. It had been hours by now and she still didn't know the way out. She had seen a window but it was higher off the ground than she was willing to jump. Finally when she could take it no longer she went back to the window. She'd just have to climb down. It wasn't terribly difficult to scale down the wall of the castle. She pushed off and jumped at about fifteen feet from the ground. Then she ran.

Flora wasn't ready to give up on Ser Jaime just yet. She had to convince him to come with her and get the sword. She knew he eventually would agree to it but she didn't know what it would take to get him there. After she finally oriented herself to find which street she was on, she made her way to the beach where he liked to practice.

Jaime was there as she expected him to be. "You found your way out alright?" he asked her as she approached him.

She shook her head. "I couldn't find the door. I had to climb out a window."

"None of the guards saw you?" he asked, and if she wasn't mistaken it almost sounded as if he had been worried about her.

"None of them saw me. No one expects to see anyone climbing on walls so high. They didn't know to look." Flora said.

"I'm sorry about Cersei. She didn't have a good reason to try to arrest you. It shouldn't have happened." Jaime said.

"Her reasons are clear enough." Flora said. "I know what she is to you and what you are to her. She fears that I will steal away the father of her children."

Jaime looked both angered and shocked. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you know."

"I know many things. I have seen many things in my dreams. Things that you would not want me to see. Things that I did not want to see." Flora told him. She didn't want to tell him all this but he needed to know. "I have seen you with your sister, I have seen the birth of your children, I saw you push the Stark boy from a tower, I have seen you in battle, in Rob Stark's camp. I saw you lose your hand, I saw you defend Brienne of Tarth… I saw you kill the Mad King after he ordered the city burned. And from all I have seen I know that there is far more honor in you than there is dishonor. You will come with me to find Brightroar and you will serve Jon Snow someday, honor demands it, destiny demands it, the only question is when?"

"Now." Jaime said with a sigh. "I'll do it now. Tomorrow anyway. Just give me time to pack and say goodbye to Tommen."

Flora nodded, taking care not to smile because leaving everything behind was a serious matter for him. "You will meet me here?"

"I will meet you here." He agreed. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Valyria." She told him. "Across the narrow sea."


	5. Chapter 5

It was difficult to say goodbye to Tommen but not as difficult as his Uncle as it might have been as his father. Jaime had never been close to his son. Tommen was a little sad to see him go but not terribly so. Jaime decided that was probably for the best. It was better that Tommen believed his Uncle was going off on a great adventure than believe that his father was abandoning him.

Jaime made his way to Cersei's rooms. He had been angry with her for weeks after he learned of the men she had taken to her bed but he couldn't just leave without so much as a goodbye, could he? He stopped outside the door to her chambers, torn on what to do. He lifted his hand to knock and then took it down again without knocking. He walked away and was ten feet down the hallway when the door to her bedchamber opened.

"Jaime?" Cersei called out.

He stopped walking and turned to her. "I'm leaving to find Brightroar, Cersei." He said.

"There's truly nothing I can say to stop you?" She asked.

"There isn't."

"What about your son? He needs his father here." She said sadly.

"He doesn't need me. His father died years ago." Jaime turned and walked away from her and to his great relief Cersei didn't come after him.

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Flora waited on the docks at Blackwater Bay harbor. She had never been on a ship before. She didn't know what they would be like or what to expect. She knelt down and reached over the edge of the dock and touched the water. She had been told that some of the Children of the Forest could move water. She had always wished she could do that but her human blood didn't allow her to. She touched the water and it did nothing but make her hand wet.

"Going for a swim?" Jaime asked from somewhere behind her, startling her.

"No. I don't swim." Flora said, getting to her feet.

"Is that everything you brought?" Jaime said reaching down to pick up her cloth sack from the ground and carry it along with his own.

"It is, except for this." Flora picked up her wooden staff.

"Let's go then." He started walking towards the rowboat at the end of the dock. Flora followed him and climbed in. "It isn't common for women to travel anywhere alone here. For your own safety we should share a cabin. There won't be any trees for you to sleep in aboard the ship."

"I could sleep up there." Flora pointed to the sails and rigging of the ship ahead.

"I doubt the Captain would allow that." Jaime smiled. "Besides, you must know from all your dreams that I won't harm you if we share a cabin."

Flora sighed. "So we'll be trapped in a floating wooden box instead of a stone box."

"This was your idea, remember?" He grinned. "Neither of us would be getting on any ship if you hadn't come here."

"It wasn't my idea. I didn't have a choice. I did what my dreams told me to do because it was right." She said.

"No." Jaime shook his head. "I don't believe that. Maybe your dreams show you things but the dream with the White Walker ended two different way meaning that you have choices. We always have choices."

"There are small choices yes, but the important things...I came because it is right that you help the prince that is promised. It was not an easy journey to get here. I was hungry sometimes and sometimes people were afraid of me and now I am about to trap myself on a very terrifying ship… the important things are not a choice, we just do them because they are right." Flora insisted.

Jaime stared at her a moment. "Are you always such a martyr or is this something that developed since you've been among people?"

"What?" Flora had not expected any such question. "I'm not…"

"Of course you are. You like to believe that you are very selfless and all but you're really just afraid." Jaime said. Then seeing the angry and hurt look on her face he went on. "I'm not saying that's a bad thing. Everyone's afraid of something."

"What are you afraid of?" Flora asked after some silence.

"I'm surprised you don't already know." He grinned. They had reached the ship. It was time to climb up the rope ladder and board.

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Flora kept her hood up when they boarded the ship. Jaime paid for a cabin and soon they had settled themselves inside. Well, Jaime was settled, Flora was very decidedly unsettled.

"I don't like this small space." She said as she paced back and forth in the small room.

"I know. Just sit. Try to relax." He told her.

She kept pacing. "How many days will it take to cross the sea?"

"Weeks. It will take weeks. Probably five." He told her.

She stopped and stared at him, horrified. "I'll die. Five weeks in here and I'll die." She breathed.

"You won't die. It's just a ship's cabin. People live in rooms like this all the time." Jaime protested. He hoped she wasn't going to be this upset for the entire trip or maybe he'd be the one who would die.

"I am not people! I am a child of the forest. I need air! I need space!" She was gasping for breath.

Jaime got up from where he sat on the edge of the bed and took her by her shoulders to stop her endless pacing. "Flora, you have to calm down."

"I can not." She said trying to pull away from him.

"Flora, sit down!" He told her firmly and to his surprise, she did. She sat on the edge of the bed and struggled to control her breathing. "Take slow breaths." He told her more gently and she did that as well.

It took several minutes before she had her breathing under control and was fully calm again. When she finally was calm she took down her hood and took a frightened look around the room. "Five weeks you say?"

He nodded.

"It's going to be a long five weeks." She said.


	6. Chapter 6

Jaime spent all day that first day on the ship keeping Flora talking. She needed to be distracted from her frear. If he talked to her it didn't seem to help as much. She tried to listen for a while but then her anxiety would seem to grow. So he kept her talking instead. He learned about her father, Orson of the Free Folk, and he learned about her half sisters and brother. They had been born after Orson took a new wife among the Free Folk. He learned all about life North of the Wall and a basic history of Flora's entire life. After ten hours in a cabin with her, he probably knew her better than any other woman in his life who wasn't Cersei. He never spent much time with women of the court or with any woman really aside for maybe Aunt Genna. Except Flora wasn't exactly a woman. She was a little more than a foot shorter than him and her eyes were large but he had seen people with eyes as large as hers on occasion. Maybe they had been descended from the Children too? In spite of her treelike hair, he nearly forgot that she wasn't fully human for a while.

They left the cabin twice that day to go to the galley and get food. The first meal was porridge which Flora ate heartily. The second was fish soup. She stared at the bowl with distaste.

"You don't like fish?" Jaime asked.

"Fish don't like me. Meat sickens my stomach." She said.

"I'll ask the cook for something else." Jaime said, moving to get up.

"No, don't do that. No sense drawing attention to me." She said, still well hidden under the hood of her cloak. People were already staring, wondering why this woman at their table was keeping her face hidden. "I don't need to eat much anyhow."

"It must have been difficult to find enough vegetation to eat in the North." Jaime said.

"Not as much as you might think. Things are always growing, even under the snow. It wasn't much trouble to dig for roots." She said.

Jaime finished his bowl of soup and Flora gave him her bowl to eat as well. Once he had finished them both they went back to their cabin for the night. Jaime took off his doublet to sleep and Flora removed her cloak.

"I can sleep on the floor." Jaime offered, seeing her hesitation to get into bed.

"It's not that," She shook her head. "It's not you, I've never slept in a bed before. When I lived with the free folk we slept on furs on the ground. After I left I slept in trees for safety. Father used to say that the beds of southern folk were dangerous and could break and fold on them and suffocate them while they were sleeping."

"I've never heard of that happening to anyone." Jaime said with a smile. "It's not so bad on a bed. Leastwise not on a good bed. Try it." He said.

Flora crawled onto the far side of the bed and covered herself with the wool blanket. "It's not so bad." She nodded agreeably. "Are you coming?"

So Jaime joined her on the bed. The bed was large enough that she could keep to her own side without any trouble. She did exactly that. She turned away from him and curled up on her side of the bed but was not quick to fall asleep. Her restlessness kept him awake for the better part of an hour.

"Is the bed uncomfortable, Flora?" Jaime finally asked her.

"No, I just keep thinking about how small this room is, and there's only one way in and one way out…" She said anxiously.

"Why do you fear being trapped so much? What do you think could possibly happen to you?" He asked her.

"I have heard stories of what the First Men did to the children of the forest long ago. Some were burned alive, some were flayed, some were tied to trees and left to die. Even the free folk were wary of me at times and there were a few hated me enough to remind me of these stories whenever they could. South of the wall, a few people saw me with my hood down and tried to shoot me with arrows...I have broken the pact by coming here, I have broken it by existing...the children are meant to stay hidden for a reason…" She said sadly.

"But you are half human." Jaime pointed out. "You have every right to live among men. Though I understand that people might fear you and you might fear them, you already know that you'll survive at least until we find the sword in Valyria."

"I know, but I don't know what might happen to me in the meantime."

"In the meantime I won't let anything happen to you. The people on this ship know my name and fear my reputation. No one will touch you while we're here." He said.

"I suppose you're right." She said with a sigh.

"Of course I'm right. Now, try to stay still so both of us can get some sleep." He said jokingly. He was more than thankful that she did as he asked and they were both soon asleep.

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Flora woke the next morning in a panic. She was still in the wooden box. Jaime was asleep on his side of the bed and she seemed to have taken the entire blanket away from him in her sleep. With gasping breaths she gave the blanket back to him climbed very carefully out of bed. She paced the room a few times, trying to calm herself, then she took down her cloak from the hook on the wall of the cabin and put it on. She was sorely tempted to leave the room and go up on deck. At least there it was open air. Except it truly didn't help to be there because the deck was also filled sailors who watched her warily and they were surrounded by water and she couldn't swim. Up on deck was no better than in the cabin. Perhaps she had made a terrible mistake in coming here. Perhaps Jaime would have always found his sword, even without her help. Maybe he might have gone north and found her anyway after he found the sword. She had no way of knowing. All she knew was that she hated this ship and would do almost anything to be off of it.

"Jaime?" Flora shook him gently awake from where she stood next to the bed. "I am sorry to wake you, it's just I am very hungry. You said I shouldn't go in deck alone."

"I suppose I did, didn't I?" Jaime said, getting out of bed. "And you never had any supper either. Of course you're hungry."

She didn't tell him that it wasn't entirely hunger that had pushed her to awaken him. It had been fear. In the wild she knew how to take care of herself. Or if it was her against one man in an open space, she had no fear. Here everything was different. She felt safer if he was awake and looking out for her. Someday she knew he would try to save her from the White Walkers. She didn't know what sort of friendship they would form before then that would make him come to her defense at risk to his own life but she did know that he seemed protective of her even now. When Jaime was awake, she was safer from these sailors and other passengers who might fear and hate her. He may not be able to fight well with his left hand just yet but he was still a Lannister and the people here knew that.

They made their way up to the galley where Flora ate a bowl of porridge. She kept close to Jaime and tried to keep her head down. A man seated to her left spoke to her.

"What's your name? What are you hiding under that hood?" He asked her.

"My name is Flora." She told him, answering on the first question.

"I'm Hyle. I'm headed to Valyria with some items to trade from Lord Ambrose. Then men are saying you are traveling with Lannister as his guide, Flora. What do the Lannisters want in Valyria?" He asked.

"A very old sword." Jaime answered for her.

"And why is it Ser Jaime, that your guide can't show her face?" Hyle asked.

"She has scars." Jaime said. Flora breathed a sigh of relief. That was a good lie he had come up with. "There was a fire some years ago. She doesn't like to show her face since then."

Hyle shrugged. "We've all seen our share of scars. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Can't be any worse than the Hound."

"It can." Jaime said.

"Come on, just let us have one look?" Hyle said, reaching for her hood. "We promise not to laugh or say anything rude."

Flora leaned away from his hand towards Jaime who reached his left arm around her shoulders and caught Hyle's wrist in his hand. "Don't touch her." He said firmly.

"Fine!" Hyle said, wrenching his hand free. "I'll just sit elsewhere." The man got up and left the table.

"That was well handled." Flora said when Hyle was gone. "Thank you."

Jaime nodded and said nothing. He just continued eating his porridge, seemingly lost in thought about something.


	7. Chapter 7

After a few hours the second day spent with Flora and her fear of small spaces, Jaime was growing increasingly tired of her fears. He had liked her well enough on land. And he had followed her here willingly, though not because he liked her but because he hoped that she really spoke the truth about Brightroar. He needed to be able to fight again and given the fact that she was who she was, it seemed plausible that her story might be true. It was the sword that had brought him on this journey, not Flora. Now he wished he'd just convinced her to tell him where it was and sent her home. She was driving him crazy with her pacing the room and with her clinging to his arm every time they left the cabin. He didn't even bother trying to convince her to talk and distract herself. He sprawled out on the bed and took a book from his bag. He wasn't much for reading but Tyrion had always liked this particular volume so he had brought it along.

"Is that a book?" She asked him, finally stopping her pacing.

"Yes, you've never seen a book before?"

She shook her head no. "How do you...read it?"

After that, Jaime spent a great deal of time trying to teach Flora to read. It was ironic that he would be the one teaching her to read as he'd had such a hard time learning the skill himself. Even so, after she understood that it wasn't magic, she learned it well enough. Each day she practiced reading and each night she slept on her side of the bed and tried to her handle her sense of panic. The book was a decent distraction but it didn't fix everything. A few times she got angry with Jaime when a concept was difficult for her. He told her she wasn't a very good student and she threatened to hit him with her staff. She didn't do it of course but she was angry enough that she might have.

After days and days of her clinging to his arm when they left the cabin and her pacing when they were in it, he finally lost his patience with her. "Just stop pacing and sit the fuck down!" He shouted at her one evening.

Startled she stopped and glared at him. Then she went and sat on the bed like he had asked of her. The next morning was the beginning of their third week aboard the ship, Jaime woke up feeling ill. He moved to get out of bed and vomited all over the floor.

"Nope. Not getting up up today." He said. "You'll be okay to go to breakfast yourself." He told Flora. "The sailors all know us both now. They'll be courteous."

Flora didn't look convinced but she left him anyway, backing slowly out the door with worried eyes.

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The sailors on deck and in the galley were courteous to Flora just as Jaime said they would be. Several of their normal companions were missing, sick just as Jaime was. Flora finished her meal and brought back some rags and a bucket of seawater to try and clean the floor in their room.

For three days Jaime was sick. She brought him food and water and cleaned up after him and somehow managed to bite back her panic at being left to fend for herself on the horrible ship. On the fourth day she was worn out from anxiety and overwhelmed with disgust at having cleaned up vomit and endlessly washing linens. She went to bed that night angry at having to do so much for this man who didn't even like her. She realized that he was right about something though. She wasn't selfless. She hated taking care of people and a selfless person would love doing that. She wasn't at all selfless, she just afraid like he had said. It made her angry that he had been right. It was difficult to sleep now that she could see herself clearly.

The next morning Jaime was feeling much better. He was awake before she was and was dressed and out of bed though he did still look pale and sickly.

"Are you ready for breakfast? I'm coming with you this time."

Flora climbed out of bed. "I don't need you to come with me. I've been doing just fine on my own the past few days." She said, a little defiantly.

"You'd rather I stay here and you can bring me food like you did the past three days?" He asked, irritated for some reason.

"Go ahead. I'm not afraid to go alone." She said, she was too proud to admit out loud that he had been right, that she was afraid, that she had been hurt by his annoyance with her fear.

Jaime moved away from the door and sat back down on the bed. Flora just stared at him. She'd expected he would argue with her and join her for breakfast anyway. She hadn't wanted him to give up so easily.

"Are you going or not?" He asked.

"Yes." Flora moved towards the door.

"See if you can find some cheese this time." He called after her.

Flora left the room feeling furious with him. She had thought she knew him from her dreams but she hadn't known he could be so absolutely irritating. She was focused on her anger that she didn't notice Hyle was waiting for her just outside the galley.

"I take it Ser Jaime is still sick?" Hyle asked her.

"A bit, yes." Flora said, making an attempt to go around him and enter the galley.

Hyle stepped in her way, not letting her pass. "Sick enough that he won't mind if you share some guidance with me? You are his guide are you not?"

Flora didn't answer him. She knew that Hyle wasn't asking for guidance at all. Her staff was back in the cabin which meant that if he pushed her further, she'd have to use her light. She took a step back and he took three steps towards her, pinning her easily against a wall. Flora shoved him away with all her strength and slipped away beneath his arm. She went back to the cabin. There was no getting into the kitchen without revealing too much. She didn't know what else to do.

Flora entered the room empty handed. She hated to to do it. She knew it would only prove Jaime right. He looked up at her and saw she hadn't brought food.

"What happened?" He asked, all his irritation from earlier was gone. He knew that something was actually wrong and this wasn't just more of her irrational fears.

"Hyle. He wouldn't let me past him into the kitchen. He's never been so bold with me before." Flora said.

"And he won't be again either." Jaime said, getting up. "I really am coming with you this time. You'll just have to get over your pride and let me do my duty."

"Pride?" She asked, exasperated and angry. "I thought if I fetched breakfast you would be happy to be rid of me pacing the room. And I am glad to see that after I've cared for you for four days I have become nothing more than duty to you."

"Just as I was a duty to you while I was sick." Jaime pointed out. "I am grateful you did your duties. I am not grateful for the times you pace the room." He sighed. "Are you coming to breakfast or not?"

"Alright." Flora agreed reluctantly. She followed him out of the room somewhat unsure if he disliked her or not and if she even liked him or not.


	8. Chapter 8

As long as Jaime stayed near Flora's side, Ser Hyle kept his distance from her. He was grateful that the man didn't try to challenge him. Jaime wasn't sure how well he would do in an actual fight at this point. Since the loss of his hand, he'd been forced to use words rather than a sword as his defense. Tyrion had always been good at that but when words had failed him, Tyrion had always had a brother with a sword to defend him. Now Jaime had nothing but fancy words to defend himself and Flora and that fact that it was all just a bluff irked him to no end.

If he wasn't mistaken, Flora was growing a little more comfortable with being on the ship. She didn't cling to him when they went out for meals and instead of pacing the room, she took to curling up in a corner on the floor to sit. She was still frightened but was at least more tolerable. Being a knight, Jaime had always been willing to rescue the occasional maiden in distress. If Flora actually needed his help, he would help her. However, he didn't know what to do about her irrational fears. It only added to his sense of helplessness that there was nothing he could say to convince her that she was perfectly safe. So he stopped trying to convince her of anything.

At the end of their fourth week aboard the ship, Jaime and Flora were on civil but not exactly friendly terms. She was still angry with him for some reason and he found himself responding defensively in return. She was supposed to be his guide, she was supposed to bring him to the sword that would enable him to fight again, and they couldn't even seem to get through a day without snapping at one another.

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Flora found it more difficult to sleep on the ship than she would have ever admitted out loud. She had never shared a sleeping space with anyone before. Sharing a bed with Jaime was very disconcerting. By day she did everything she could to keep her anxiety to herself but Jaime always seemed to know it was there anyway and would make her feel worse with his comments which he probably intended to be helpful. She had never been in a position like this before. For years she had taken care of herself. She had gathered her own food, had fought to defend herself if she needed to, and hadn't had cause to fear much of anything except that something might happen to her father or half siblings. Here, everything was different. All of the fears she hadn't known she even had, were come together in this one place. She was trapped and unable to escape on a vessel filled with men who might fear or hate her if they knew what she was. She couldn't help but feel like she had every right to be afraid and Jaime acted as if she were being unreasonable. Then, in spite of how stupid he believed her fear to be, he stuck close to her anyway and kept her safe out of "duty." He was knight, it was his duty to defend the weak, he had told her at one point and she had only gotten angry at that. She wasn't weak. She was trapped and outnumbered. There was a big difference. They hadn't spoken for several hours after that.

Then one night for the first time in weeks, Flora had a dream. She dreamed she and Jaime were finally off of the ship on land. They were standing under the branches of a tree near a large open field. In her dream she was laughing about something, she didn't know what, she only knew that she was happy. Her hair was down loose and she wore no cloak and Jaime didn't look at her like she was some sort of strange creature like most men did. Then Jaime moved closer to her and he wrapped his arms around her and he kissed her. His hand was in her hair with no regard for the leaves and twigs that grew there. He didn't seem to care about that. He only seemed to care about kissing her. Then with a gasp she found herself awake on the ship and in bed next to Jaime.

"Flora?" He asked in the darkness.

"Sorry, it was just a dream. I didn't mean to wake you." She said.

"A dream of the future?" He asked curiously.

"Not this time. Just a regular dream." She told him honestly. She knew how to tell the difference between the ordinary dreams. The dreams of the future were more green. This had been a regular dream but it was hardly any less disturbing.

Flora knew what it was to be with a man. There had been a few men among the free folk who had been curious about her and she had been just a curious about them. But that was all she had been to them in the end, a curiosity. They had moved on to "normal women" when they found one who was willing. She had tried not to let that sting too much but sometimes it still did. She didn't know where this dream about Jaime had come from. She supposed she was grateful that he had been looking out for her on the ship, and she did think him handsome, and she did hope that he would save her from the Walkers someday, but kissing him? She hadn't known she wanted that until the dream just then. She could never tell him. He didn't even like her. She was just the means of finding the sword he wanted. She had a hard time falling back asleep after that.


	9. Chapter 9

Land. Gods, Flora was never so thankful to see land. The Captain of the ship was unwilling to sail anywhere near the ruined old city so Jaime and Flora were to row there in a smaller boat while the ship sailed to the Island of Naath to buy silk. The ship would return in three weeks time to bring them back to Westeros so they had only that long to find the sword.

Flora did most of the rowing as it was difficult for Jaime with only one hand. After so much lack of exercise on the ship, Flora found herself growing tired very quickly. They reached shore and she dragged her tired body out of the rowboat, falling into the water as she did so. Jaime climbed out and reached to help her up but she scurried away from him before he could, crawling through the shallow water to the beach. Then she lay there in the sand, so relieved at being on land again that she burst into tears.

"Flora?" Jaime asked, having made it out of the shallow water to stand beside her. "Are you alright?"

"I am now." She said, still crying, her hands making fists in the sand.

He sat down on the ground beside her, realizing that she wasn't going anywhere just yet. "Do you know where to go from here to find the sword?"

"I know exactly where it was." Flora told him.

"What? What do you mean you know where it was? Do you know where it is?" Jaime said a bit concerned.

"I'm sure it's still there or else you wouldn't have it in all my other dreams." Flora sat up and rinsed her sandy hands in the water.

"You had better be right about that because if you brought me all this way for nothing I'll…"

"You'll what?" Flora asked, angry.

"Nothing. I won't do anything." He said more calmly but still tinged with anger. "I would never harm a lady."

"I'm not exactly a lady though, am I?" She countered. "Besides, you can't harm me here. It's just you and I at this place. There's no one for me to hide from. I have my staff and I have my light, and you can't hurt me." She grabbed her staff and got to her feet, marching away from him.

"Wait a minute!" He called after her, then quickly caught up to her. "All your threats aside, do you know where the sword is or don't you?"

"I saw KIng Tommen of the Rock climb a great staircase here in Valyria. It has has twenty seven steps and a banister with dragon heads. He and his men had already began to plunder the newly destroyed city. He might have had treasure just as he'd hoped if not for the fact that pirates reached the city first." Flora explained. "Tommen and his men fought the pirates who came ashore until they had driven them to the rooftop of the great building. After a great battle, one of the pirates overtook him, hacked off Tommen's left hand with an ax so he could no longer hold a shield. Then he was stabbed through the heart and knocked off the rooftop into the water below. His sword went with him."

"So the sword is in the water?" Jaime asked.

Flora nodded. "It should be."

"Who's to say it isn't rusted to shit by now?" He asked as they walked.

"Valyrian steel doesn't rust. At least I don't think it does."

"You don't think it does?" Jaime said, irritated. "We've traveled all this way and that's all you can give me?"

"You didn't have to come here." Flora protested. "You never asked what condition the sword was in. I wasn't trying to mislead you…"

"No you're right. The fault is mine. I was stupid and reckless to trust someone I barely know without asking more questions." Jaime said bitterly.

"Valyrian steel is not ordinary steel. Maybe it really doesn't rust. I'm sure we'll find the sword where I saw it fall." Flora tried to say reassuringly.

"Let's just find this building." Jaime said.

"Agreed." Flora said, and they walked towards the ruined city in silence.

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It was hours of walking and looking at old buildings before Flora found the building he had described. It was a large villa with twenty seven steps leading to the front doors. Each side of the wide stairway had a bannister with a dragon head at each end. She could not have known this would be here unless she were telling the truth about her dreams. Maybe he had been too hard on her and the sword would be here and undamaged just as she claimed.

They followed the staircase to the doors. One of them saw broken making it easy to get inside. Flora led the way to another more narrow stairway that led to the roof. She ran across the roof to one corner.

"There." She said, pointing down to the water below. "There's where he fell."

"This building is on a cliff." Jaime said as he looked at the waves crashing below. "You could probably climb down there but you don't swim." He told Flora.

"I could just row the boat around to there and you can do the swimming." She said.

Jaime nodded. "Tomorrow. It's nearly dark now. We'll need time to find food for you. The captain mostly sent us with smoked meats."

"I saw a cherry tree three blocks back." Flora said. "I'll just go there now and meet you on the beach near the rowboat."

Jaime agreed and headed back towards the beach to set up some sort of camp for the night.


	10. Chapter 10

As he set up camp, Jaime was thankful for a few minutes spent alone. He suspected she felt the same way. She probably wasn't at all a bad person but they seemed to have somehow gotten off on the wrong foot. Maybe they just expected too much out of one another. He needed the sword that she had seen in her dreams. It was his only hope of being whole again. And she needed him to be there to save her from the White Walkers someday. He knew that was the reason she had been unwilling to let him go alone and was reluctant to leave his side. She needed to keep him near if she had any hope of surviving. He couldn't really blame her for that but without the sword, he probably couldn't even help her anyway. At least there were no White Walkers here in Valyria. They were perfectly safe spending time apart. In the meantime, they needed to find some way to get along without all this tension.

Jaime built a fire on the beach. He wasn't sure how cold it would get at night here but a fire couldn't hurt. He laid out a blanket for sleeping and sat down to eat some of the smoked meat he'd brought. He wouldn't have minded sleeping inside one of the ruined buildings. It would have at least been shelter but Flora wouldn't want that and he wasn't so heartless as to leave her completely alone at night since the dreams of her future death would happen while she was alone at night. She probably didn't enjoy the idea of being left alone at night though she'd also never admit that out loud. She was too proud for her own good sometimes but he supposed the Lannisters were proud as well so he shouldn't complain.

It was dark and Jaime had nearly fallen asleep when Flora finally came back to him. She carried her cloak like a sack and it was filled with something. "I found more than just cherries." She told him setting the cloak down on the ground. "There was orchard behind some old ruined villa. Cherries, apples, pears, and plums. I can lay them out and dry them in the sun for the return trip."

"Good idea." He said. She couldn't have possibly had enough to eat on the journey here. A daily bowl of porridge wasn't enough for anyone.

She sat down on the beach and ate a plum and she set to work sorting out the fruit and laying it out on her cloak while she ate. She ate an apple and and a handful of cherries, spitting out the pits as she worked.

"There's plenty of fruit here if you want some." Flora offered.

"Keep it. You'll need it for the return trip." Jaime told her. She nodded but looked saddened at his words. He hadn't meant to insult her.

"I think I'll sleep in that tree over there." She pointed to a tree further down the beach."

"You don't have to." Jaime found himself saying. He had grown accustomed to having her next to him at night. She had always kept her distance but it was still nice somehow to not wake up alone. "You'd be perfectly safe on the ground."

"And I'd be perfectly safe in the tree too except there you won't have to worry about me. You'll be off duty tonight." Flora said, getting to her feet.

Jaime sighed and let her go. It wasn't working. Whatever efforts he made to try to get along with her never worked. He would just give up trying except that he wanted to understand what about her it was that would someday prompt him to fearlessly cut down a dozen White Walkers to save her. Truthfully, he would fight for her now if it came down to it. He was a knight and he would defend the weak if he needed to. But the way she had described her dream gave him the impression that there was something more between them than just duty in the future to come. He still didn't know what or why.

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It was easy to find a comfortable crook in the tree to sleep in. It wasn't easy to find sleep. Flora had wanted to accept Jaime's offer to sleep on the ground. She liked sleeping next to him. For their entire journey on the ship she had felt safest when she was near him, especially at night. After that dream about the kiss she had wanted to sleep closer to him but had never once given into the temptation. She had always liked people better than they had liked her. The fact that she was only half human had forced her to keep people distant. She observed them from a distance, laughed at their jokes, cried with them when they were sad, but never let herself get too close because they would eventually push her away and accuse her of not being human. It had happened before, in childhood and as a young woman. Friends she had cared about and men she had thought loved her had moved on to relationships with humans. She knew she shouldn't let it bother her. She'd had a father who loved her and she'd had a few friends who didn't abandon her. But her mother had given her up for being human and then humans gave her up for not being human. She didn't belong anywhere. She certainly didn't belong sleeping next to Jaime Lannister on some beach just because she was lonely. Flora knew that he only looked out for her because it was his duty to do so. She wasn't going to allow herself imagine it was anything else. There were more important things at stake anyway. There was a coming war that would decide the fate of the whole world. Her feelings for one man were not of any significance compared to all that. She angrily brushed the tears off of her face and waited for sleep to find her.


	11. Chapter 11

Flora wasn't in nearly good enough physical shape to row so far the next day. Jaime took one of the oars and helped her.

"You don't have to do that." She told him, in spite of being exhausted already.

"Why do you do that?" Jaime asked, refusing to give the oar back to her. "Why do always pretend you don't want any help, even when you need it?"

"I don't need help. I can do this." She said firmly.

"Maybe you can, but you do know that friends are supposed to help each other don't you?" He asked her, trying a new approach just this once.

"Friends?" She asked, a little taken aback. "But I thought…."

"No don't stop there. Tell me, what is it that you thought? That we can't be friends?" Jaime asked.

"On the ship you were angry with me for being afraid." Flora said somewhat bitterly.

"Not exactly." Jaime said. "I was annoyed with how you were handling your fears. I was angry that there was nothing I could do to help you, that's all. Is that what's been bothering you these past few weeks?"

She nodded. "Yes, and I was confused because you continued to keep Hyle away from me even though I thought you were angry with me. I didn't know why you would do that unless I really am nothing more than a guide to your sword."

He sighed. "I must admit. since you told of that sword and what you have seen me do with it, I have thought of little else. But perhaps it's not too late to still be friends."

Flora nodded again. "I would like that." She said and she allowed Jaime to help her row the boat the rest of the distance.

When they reached the cliffs where the sword ought to be, Jaime took off his boots and the sword he wore as well as his golden hand. The water was rough as crashed against the side of the cliff. Flora would have to row the boat away if the tide brought it too close to the cliff face.

"You can swim in this kind of water?" Flora asked him worriedly.

Jaime grinned back at her. "That friendship thing worked rather quickly. I do believe you're worried about me."

"I am being serious." Flora said, ignoring his jokes. "The water looks dangerous."

"I used to dive off the cliffs of Casterly Rock into the sea as a boy. This is nothing." He said, and he dove out of the boat into the water.

Flora waited with trepidation for nearly two minutes before he resurfaced. He gasped for breath, then swam over to the rowboat and grabbed the side to keep himself afloat. "It's a long way down to the bottom here. I might have jumped off the roof of the building up there and been just fine. I probably would have done so without even thinking about it as a boy."

"But you didn't find anything?" She asked him.

"Not yet. I'll try again."

Jaime spent most of the day in the water, diving below the surface again and again. Each he came up with nothing and each time he became more discouraged than the last. After a while he got hungry and he climbed into the boat to have some food.

"What if we go back to the rooftop?" Flora suggested. "I could show you exactly where Tommen fell and you could jump from there."

"That might work if the wind is the same." Jaime shrugged.

"It has to work." Flora said.

"You'll have row back here by yourself to get me. There's no way I can go ashore here." He said.

"I can do that." Flora said.

"Alright. I'll make one more dive after I eat and if that doesn't work we'll go back to the rooftop." Jaime said resolutely."

"Maybe not," Flora said. "Look at those clouds. It's going to rain any moment."

The clouds had come in rather suddenly, as did the rain. Jaime took one of the oars and they headed back the way they had come. The rain was coming down hard and there was soon an inch or two of water in the boat.

"Let's go ashore there." Jaime pointed out a patch of beach in the distance as they rounded the cliff. It wasn't where they needed to end up but it was better than a boat full of rain. By the time they made it ashore, Flora was as wet as Jaime was.

"It's not going to stop anytime soon is it?" She commented at the waded ashore. One look around made it clear that there was no shelter anywhere nearby, only more cliffs further back on the beach.

"No, but we could flip the boat over and take shelter underneath."

She nodded agreement and helped him drag the boat out of the water and far beyond the tidal lines at the base of the cliff. He turned the boat onto its side. "Lie down there." He said and she did. Then he lay down next to her and eased the boat down over top of them.

It was a tight fit underneath the boat and the two of them were forced to lie closer together than they ever had before. They had to be on their sides facing one another and in order to make room or maybe just to make them comfortable, Jaime put his arms around her and hugged her. Flora was glad that the pounding rain on the boat was louder than her racing heart. She was glad for the darkness too or he might have noticed how flushed her cheeks were at the closeness. No one had hugged her in years. It felt so good to be hugged that she had to bite her lip to keep from crying.

"Are you alright Flora?" Jaime asked her.

"I'm fine." She said, somehow managing to keep her voice steady. "I'm good."


	12. Chapter 12

The rain let up after a few hours. Both Jaime and Flora fell asleep during that time. Jaime woke up and though it was dark under the boat, he could tell by her breathing that Flora was still asleep. She clung to him in her sleep. Her head against his chest and her arms were tightly wrapped around him. He was chilled to the bone and wet but was in no hurry to wake her and let her go. He found that he liked having her close. He liked being needed. He felt the change in her breathing and he moved to let her go but her hand caught his wet tunic.

"Wait." She said, before he could pull away.

"What is it?" He asked, putting his arm back around her.

"It's just… this is nice." She said, rather timidly. "No one has hugged me in a very long time."

"It is." Jaime agreed, "But it's also very wet. We should get back and see if any of our things are still dry."

He lifted the boat off of them and she helped him pull it back to the water's edge. They rowed the rest of the way to the beach where they had originally landed.

"It's only mid afternoon. Do you want to make the dive today?" Flora asked him as they climbed out of the boat.

Jaime was about to say yes and then he took one look at how exhausted Flora looked. "No we'd best not. Besides it looks like we have other problems." He said taking a look around at the empty beach. Flora's cloak that had been spread with fruit was gone as were both of their bags. "We may not be alone here."

"Shit." Flora muttered and Jaime almost laughed. It was the first time he had heard her swear in context.

"Shit is right. Neither of us have any dry clothes now." He said.

"It's worse than that. Look?" Flora pointed at the muddy beach and Jaime saw clearly as she did that there were several sets of footprints.

"There's probably five men been here." Jaime said.

"Maybe pirates?" She asked.

"I don't think so. I don't see any ships nearby. I think they were here before us." he said.

"So what do we do now?"

"Let's find a place to hide the boat and then we'll go into the city and see what we can find." He said.

They dragged the boat onto the shore and stashed it under a bush, throwing on more branches and brush to hide it.

"I hope that doesn't hurt the tree." Flora said as Jaime broke off a branch to put over the boat.

"It's not as if I'm chopping it down." Jaime said, unsure why she cared.

"I only mean… the twigs in my hair, they hurt if anyone snaps them off...maybe it hurts the trees too." She said sadly.

"Maybe it does," Jaime said, "But it can't be helped. Why would anyone snap off the twigs in your hair anyhow?"

"When I was a child, some of the other children of the free folk called me Treehead. They laughed at me and they'd knock me down and tear the leaves and twigs from my hair, sometimes tore them out so fiercely that my head would bleed. When I grew old enough to throw light I was able to stop them but even when they kept their distance I could see that they hated me."

"And now you don't have your cloak and there at least five men nearby who might see you." Jaime said sadly. "I won't let anyone hurt you."

"I know. And if there's truly only five of them I can put up a pretty good fight myself. I just don't like being seen as some… creature…the cloak helps with that."

"That's what you were truly afraid of on the ship." Jaime said with realization. "You were afraid of being trapped among people who might harm you because they see you as less than human."

She nodded, tears in her eyes.

"Gods...I'm sorry. I apologize. I should have called a truce long before I did." He said.

"I am sorry too, for being so defensive." She said.

As much as he disliked it when people called him oathbreaker and kingslayer, as much as he hated the disgust people had when they spoke of the rumors about him and Cersei, he realized that being seen as less than human might even be worse than all that. She'd had every right to be afraid on the ship and perhaps something as simple as a hug might have fixed the problem. He'd been so consumed with wanting to find the sword that he hadn't even considered that he might be the one being unreasonable.

The truth was, she had told him she knew all about Cersei, that she had seen things about his life that she hadn't wanted to see. Flora had seen him kill the mad king, push the Stark boy out a tower, and sleep with his own sister. She knew the worst things there were to know about him and yet she did not look at him with contempt the way so many people did. She had all but admitted that she enjoyed hugging him. Cersei would likely never forgive him for leaving Tommen when he had, even if he wanted her forgiveness. He wasn't sure he'd ever get the chance to see Tyrion again. Flora was very likely the best friend he had in the world about now. He guessed he'd better not screw this up if he could help it.

"Let's go into the city and at least find shelter." Jaime said, and she followed in the direction he headed.

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There were signs of any people anywhere in the ruined city. Whoever had stolen their stuff had done a good job of hiding from them. Flora brought Jaime to the orchard and that she had visited before.

"Most of the stuff on the lower branches has been harvested already." He commented.

"You're right. I'm surprised I didn't notice that when I was here before. I'll just climb the tree and get some fruit from the higher branches." She said, pulling herself up into the tree.

"You didn't notice because you were happy to be rid of your insufferable companion for a little while." Jaime said.

"I wouldn't say you were insufferable." Flora said.

"Really? I was trying so hard..." He said.

She laughed a little at that. "Can you take these if I pass them down?" She asked, passing him an apple. Once he had taken as many apples as he could carry in his shirt, she jumped down from the tree. They sat on the ground and ate the apples. The sky was growing dark.

"We have to find some way to dry our clothes." Jaime said. "This is miserable sitting like this."

"When it's dark we could hang our clothes in the trees to dry." Flora said.

"I assume you're sleeping in the tree again then?" Jaime teased.

"Yes!" She said firmly.

He laughed. "Fair enough."

Once the sky was dark Flora climbed high into the branches of the tree before she even tried to take off her dress. It was struggle to get the wet clothing off and still stay balanced in the tree but she managed it somehow. She hung her dress and small clothes on a branch below her and settled on a branch to sleep like had done so many times before.

"Jaime?" She called down to him below. "Promise me you won't look up in the morning?"

"I won't look up." He said, his tone somewhat amused. "Good night Flora."

"Good night Jaime."


	13. Chapter 13

When Jaime woke just before dawn, he remembered that he wasn't supposed to look up and so he didn't. He grabbed his nearly dry clothes and dressed quickly.

"Flora," he called up to her. "I'll go sit on those steps just out of sight if you want to come down and get dressed."

She didn't answer him.

"Flora?" He called up a second time. Once again she didn't answer. "If you don't answer me I'm going to look up." He said and he waited long enough for her to answer. When he finally did look up, he didn't see Flora anywhere. Her dress wasn't hanging in the branches either. Maybe she had woken before he did and left the orchard? That seemed unlikely since she knew there were people about the ruined city somewhere. She might have come down to get dressed while he slept he supposed, but then where would she have gone. Jaime wandered over to the edge of the orchard where it met the dusty street and saw his answer there. Footprints, several sets like on the beach.

"Shit!" Jaime said, having guessed what had most likely happened. Flora had come down to get dressed before he woke up and their friends had been waiting for her. If they had taken her by surprise she wouldn't have had a chance to fight them. Maybe they hadn't seen a woman in a long time. Which explained why they had been careful not to wake him.

He followed the footprints for a few blocks until someone had swept the street thereby ending the trail. He had no idea where they might have taken Flora and even if he did know, he couldn't fight five or more men to free her, not as he was. Angry and determined, Jaime went back to the building with the dragon bannisters. He went up to the rooftop and stripped off most of his clothes. Then without hesitation he went to the edge of the roof and dove off into the waves below.

It was dark wherever it was that the strange men were keeping her. She couldn't see them but she could hear them having an argument about her. She had managed to hit one of them with a ball of light before they tied her up. Now they were trying to decide if she was a witch or a god or a woman. This was one time that she'd rather have them decide she wasn't human. They had already agreed that if she were human it would be okay to rape her. So Flora had told them she was a witch and she would curse them if they hurt her. That had seemed to hold them off for the first few hours but since there seemed to be no females in their company, she knew it wouldn't hold them off forever.


End file.
